Herbert Gallagher

Life & Legacy

Herbert William Gallagher FRCS (1917–2007) was a Northern Irish medical professional, politician and World War II Royal Army Medical Corps officer.
He attended Methodist College, Belfast and Queen's University Belfast, where he studied medicine, matriculating in 1939. At the onset of World War II he volunteered for the British Army's Medical Corps.
In 1940, he was travelling from Northern Ireland to England when the ship struck a mine outside Liverpool. Using his medical skills he tended to the casualties. His war service took him to Egypt and India. He married a nursing sister from the same unit. After being demobbed he trained as a surgeon at Belfast City Hospital. After the National Health Service was created, he became a Consultant at Banbridge and Newtownards Hospitals.